A Difference
by isalsalism
Summary: Fuji faces a certain death... and it's tearing her apart. Then Prince Atobe gives her something that fills her with new hope; that gives her the determination to thrive on, and she learns something about Atobe that she has never knew before.


Holy shit, I like, finally finished re-writing this XD It probably got a little better, it probably didn't. xD

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Fuji and her child made their way in the roaring wet winds of rain, and the loud claps of thunder to the cemetery.

There were many old tombstones with names, dates, and words carved into it. Around each stone, were many offerings for the spirits.

Fuji headed for the most recent tombstone that joined the place.

That tombstone was light grey, and round on the top. A small silver cross stood on top of it. Fuji touched the wet words engraved into the slab of stone with her index finger, and put a pot of green flowers in front of the grave – her lover's favorite color.

"Kunimitsu . . ." she whispered, her tears becoming a part of the rain that was streaming down her face. She mustn't sob. She must be strong in front of her daughter.

"Fuji-san, I'm sorry," Oishi said as he approached her. "There was nothing I could do about it. Tezuka chose this fate. He chose his teammates' lives over his own, and his spirit is now at peace."

_A huge, wooden vessel hit the side of an iceberg, and a huge rumble shook the place._

"_What happened?" Tezuka asked._

"_I'll go look, nya!" Eiji said, and looked over the side of the ship that the shake came from. "Oh no! There's a hole torn into the side of the ship, and water is flowing in, nya!"_

_Tezuka immediately jumped from the steering wheel, and ran in the icy rain to the storage room. _

_He came out, dragging a wooden boat. Then, he got out a ladder, and draped it over the side of the ship, its ends hooked onto the boat. _

"_Get in the boat!" he commanded. _

_Oishi climbed down the ladder into the boat first, and then came Eiji. Inui came in after that, and Kaidoh went last._

_Water was flowing into the ship fast; the ship was already getting to be in level with the little boat._

"_Go, now!" Tezuka said._

"_But we can't leave you, nya!" Kikumaru protested. "We're crewmates!" _

"_Tezuka!" Oishi said._

_Tezuka looked at the little wooden boat. It was already crowded, _

"_Go!" Tezuka cut the ladder away from the boat, and used the last of his strength to push the life boat away from the sinking ship full of crab._

"_Tezuka!!" Oishi cried as the ferocious icy waves carried the boat farther and farther away from the ship. _

"_We have to go back and save Tezuka!" Oishi grabbed the paddles of the raft, and began to fight the icy waves._

"_Oishi, it's no use," Inui said. "The chances of him surviving the cold seas is 0.0000001"_

_Oishi put down the paddles, tears streaming down his eyes. Kikumaru bawled and clung onto Oishi, while Inui wiped his eyes with a cold, damp sheet of paper from his trusty notebook. Even Kaidoh had to cry…_

_The rain stung their faces like icy nails, but the ache in their hearts drowned out everything else in the world._

"It's okay, Oishi," Fuji said. "It's just like…Kunimitsu to do – do something like this."

Mitsuko, Fuji's daughter, started to bawl.

"WAA!!" she cried. "WHY DID DADDY HAVE TO DIE?!"

Fuji took her in her embrace, and looked at Mitsuko's hassled appearance.

She had the same, brown hair that Fuji had, but there was only one thing that Fuji paid attention to – her face. Her daughter inherited Tezuka's face, but it wasn't the stoic face that she has known. Mitsuko's face was no longer the resemblance of someone like her father… someone strong.

"There, there," she said. "Daddy died…for his teammates. Daddy will always be in our hearts. We-we mustn't cry. Daddy will be – be sad to see us…"

It was too much. Her daughter's face was too much.

She finally crumbled apart, and her face was buried in her hands.. Oishi tried to help – but with no prevail.

A loud clap of thunder was heard.

Then, in the midst of all the tears, a loud horn rang, as loud as a clap of thunder.

The three turned their heads. Prince Atobe!

Fuji silently scowled. She disliked the stuck-up arrogant prince. He never cared for the deaths of his own people. He never cared for anyone but himself. In fact, she hated him.

"What are you crying about in the presence of Ore-sama, ahn?" he asked.

"Go away!" Fuji hissed, her voice living poison. "What do you know about Kunimitsu? You don't even care!"

"Who are you to tell Ore-sama to go away, ahn?" Atobe demanded, sending a nasty slap across Fuji's face.

"Mommy!" Mitsuko cried, running to her mother and hugging her tight.

"Hmph. Ore-sama doesn't even know why he came here in the first place!" Atobe said, and walked away.

Fuji glared at him, the white-hot pain still staining her left cheek.

Suddenly, she caught sight of something. Something sparkly.

In the mud, lay a medal.

It was gold – Fuji swore it was pure, and there was a silver ring at the edge of it. She handled it carefully, afraid to push on it too hard. In the middle of the medal, there was a picture of Tezuka. Beneath the picture, "Tezuka Kunimitsu" was engraved into it in tiny cursive letters. Fuji suspected that only the world's best blacksmith could've done that!

Then, everything came to her. He cared. He cared about the deaths of his citizens. He really wasn't the arrogant prince she thought he was. The amount of effort shown onto the medal proved it.

Fuji regretted the fact that she's ever doubted Atobe. She realized that his arrogance was only the thin surface of his true self. She realized, that deep down inside, lay a heart of pure gold. A golden heart that is determined to help his country thrive and flourish like never before. A golden heart that cares about his citizens more than anything. The medal proved it.

She put the medal on Tezuka's tombstone, and then she joined Oishi and Fujita to watch the medal glimmer in the presence of the sunlight.

And that seemed to make the difference.

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Review away, peoples! XD


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